Comfort

It appears I have worked myself into a state of exhaustion so I took nearly a week off from work, suffered from flu-like symptoms, visited the doctor twice, and still have intestinal distress. What's a girl to do? I think it's time to pamper myself a bit. Here's some of my favorite things:

• Visit my grandkids: who doesn't brighten up to see they little faces?
• Rest and read in the bell tower in my backyard: I'm a librarian, enough said.
• Relax with some knitting while watching favorite TV shows, preferably something funny.
• Sewing: either a new project to finish up an old one
• Sewing machines: fix up an old one, clean up a dirty machine, discover new features

The above list is pretty much in priority order but weather, time of year, commitments, all of this is subject to change. Even though I think I'm on the mend, no one wants to risk catching this and with either rain or bugs on the scene, I'm inside the house working on sewing machines. I know, I suffer so.

Viking 6360

Here is my latest sewing machine model that I fear I will have to put back on a shelf. This Viking series are wonderful when they are working and I have one in perfect condition. I have disposed of several that I thought I could fix in my early days of sewing machine repair and now I'm so much more savvy. There's now another one on my worktable so I guess I'm just not that savvy. Ellie brought it over and my first response was "No way, problem machine for sure" but you know it's quite difficult to just toss a sewing machine without at least looking at it. Dials would not turn, there were faint cracks on the cam gear, poorly replaced take up lever, and the back cover was broken. Time to walk away! So here's how I (almost) fixed this problem sewing machine.

1. Heat and sewing machine oil: this combination got things moving again. The next day I had to start all over again. Who is the stubborn one here?

2. Compare to working model: even when they were not exactly the same, they were similar enough.

Model 2000 in a beautiful green

The cam shifter showed it should be clicking into each selected stitch but mine was swooshing between selection. Without a firm "click" it never actually engaged. Without positive contact it would only stitch in the needle left position and backwards.

Here's the location of the problem but difficult to photograph

3. Heat and oil.

This went on daily for a few weeks (or maybe it only seemed that long) until the stitch selector dial would move but the indicator did not.

Dial stuck on the purple/green choice

 Oh oh, this is bad news. But I persisted, replacing the poor take up lever:

Take up lever with a weld?

Old lever on top, replacement on bottom

and fixing the back plate. When will I quit? I just found the applications for fall craft fairs and realize I have to get sewing again instead of playing with sewing machines. That's still something on my "happy" list so I pack up the Viking 6360 in hopes for either inspiration one day or cleaning out when my good sense reigns again.